Racism

Richard Cohen

January 13, 1990|By RICHARD COHEN

WASHINGTON — The tragedy of a Boston murder has turned into a national tragedy

It now appears that Charles Stuart murdered his wife and his unborn child. It also appears that what was once described as a perfect marriage was anything but and that the press, not to mention the Boston police, could see no further than certain stereotypes: a suburban couple, a black male and an inner-city neighborhood. Case closed.

Understandably, the black community is angry. Just as understandably, many whites wonder whether they were conned by Stuart or led astray by racism - or both. They have to ask themselves whether the nation in general, or Boston in particular, would have reacted similarly if a black couple had been shot by a white person under the same circumstances.

Would the governor have attended the woman's funeral? Would the police have felt free to stop white men on the street and ask them to account for their whereabouts on the night of the murder?

What's lamentable is that the Stuart case has provided yet another opportunity to finger-point - to yell "racism," to demand apologies or, in the case of some whites, to unapologetically affirm bigoted views. Instead, the outcome should have been the sort of slap to the face after which a grateful nation would say, "Thanks, we needed that."

We need it because the late Charles Stuart, wife killer though he may have been, fingered the perfect suspect: a black male.

His choice of a patsy was both appallingly racist and chillingly logical. A recent issue of The Public Interest, a quarterly journal, helps explain why: "One out of every nine adult black males in this country is under some sort of correctional supervision (prison, jail, probation or parole)." A recent article in The Washington Post provides some more statistics: "While blacks account for 12 percent of the U.S. population, they account for 46 percent of the nation's prisoners."

Statistics cannot be racist, although racism may explain them. And while these figures may not be known by either blacks or whites, they shape our behavior and attitudes. In the black community, these numbers would come as no surprise. Far and away, the most likely victim of a crime committed by a young black male is yet another black citizen. In Washington, for instance, 82 percent of the city's 1988 murder victims were black, most of them young males.

If we limit ourselves to crime statistics, we might just be dealing with an unexplained phenomenon. But if we include such things as the poverty rate, the unemployment rate, the AIDS rate, the school dropout rate and even the percentage of black males attending college (down 7.6 percent in the last decade) then a phenomenon becomes a catastrophy. You name it, and black males suffer from it. They even have a higher cancer rate.

This blight on America is no secret to government policy-makers. But their choice, for about a decade now, has been to ignore it. In his farewell address to the nation, Ronald Reagan cited the glorious view from the White House - the majestic Mall, the Potomac River and on the far bank, Virginia. It was characteristic of him. In eight years, he never really faced the other way: the majority-black city where he lived. Gary Bauer, who handled family issues in the Reagan White House, offered an explanation: "It may have been too much to bite off."

Indeed, the problems are daunting and their solutions bound to be expensive. But continued inattention is, as the Boston case has shown, rending our social fabric. It does no good to pretend that the problem does not exist when, of course, it does.

But instead of discussing the core issue in the Stuart case, white liberals offer yet another cathartic confession of racism and blacks demand an apology. What if black leaders said, "Look, we understand. We're afraid, too, and we need help"? And what if white political leaders had said, "OK, we're going to provide that help"? What if blacks and whites agreed that the lives of human beings are being wasted and something has to be done?

But nothing like that has happened. Instead, certain whites think the critical problem facing higher education is affirmative action, not that fewer black males are attending college. At the same time, too many blacks are focused entirely on racism, not noticing, it seems, that the criminals who are bopping them over the head are black themselves.

So credit Charles Stuart with something. He knew his country. When he wanted to frame someone for his wife's murder, he chose a whole category - young black men. We all - blacks and whites - believed his story until the lie was exposed. Then the bickering resumed, turning the tragedy of murder into an even greater one.

If we can't agree a problem exists, we can't even start to agree on a solution.